Exploring the Development of Progressive Construction in Chinese and Japanese EFL Writing: A Usage-Based Approach
Published in TESOL Quarterly (SSCI), 2024
Abstract: This study investigates the developmental trajectory of progressive construction among Chinese and Japanese EFL learners through a usage-based approach. A total of 600 written essays, produced by EFL learners from China and Japan with proficiency levels ranging from elementary to upper-intermediate, were analyzed. The findings reveal that advanced EFL learners, irrespective of their L1 backgrounds, exhibit higher productivity in using progressive constructions, aligning more closely with native English speakers. Moreover, the results support the aspect hypothesis, as activity verbs are predominantly marked with progressive across all learner groups. As for the development of progressive construction, less prototypical verb types in progressives increase proportionally with proficiency levels in the top 10 contingencies. However, discrepancies in proportions among Chinese and Japanese EFL learners underscore the need for a further examination of the intricate patterns of non-prototypical form-meaning associations across L1 backgrounds. The present study bears significance in shedding light on the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology influenced by L1 transfer and learner proficiency.
摘要：这项研究通过基于使用的方法探究了中国和日本英语学习者在进行时构式方面的发展轨迹。研究分析了600篇由中国和日本英语学习者撰写的作文，这些学习者的英语水平从初级到中高级不等。研究结果显示，不论母语背景如何，高水平的英语学习者在使用进行时构式方面表现出更高的产出能力，更接近英语母语者的使用模式。此外，研究结果支持体貌假说，即在所有学习者群体中，活动动词都倾向于被标记为进行时。在进行时构式的发展方面，非典型动词类型在最常见的10种用法中随着语言水平的提高而呈比例增长。然而，中国和日本英语学习者在使用比例上存在的差异，凸显了需要进一步研究不同母语背景下非典型形式-意义关联的复杂模式。本研究对理解母语迁移和学习者语言水平如何影响时体形态的习得具有重要意义。（由Claude翻译）
Contribution: Gui Wang: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Visualization, Supervision, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Hui Wang: review & editing, Methodology. Li Wang: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Conceptualization.
Recommended citation: Wang, G., Wang, H., & Wang, L. (2024). Exploring the Development of Progressive Construction in Chinese and Japanese EFL Writing: A Usage-Based Approach. TESOL Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3351